What Counts in the End
by Flowerlady
Summary: Legacy Speculation, spoilers...While facing death, Ben Skywalker remembers his life and what he will leave behind. Ben SkywalkerXJysella Horn, Dark Jacen, young Kol Skywalker.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** What Counts in the End  
**Author:** Flowerlady  
**Timeframe:** Legacy Era  
**Characters:** Ben/Jysella, Jacen, Kol Skywalker  
**Genre:** Romance, Drama, Angst  
**Summary:** While facing death, Ben Skywalker's remembers his life and what he will leave behind.  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing…  
**Author's Notes:** First, big speculation here… But here are some facts just so we are all on the same sheet of flimsy…  
I tried to make this as close to canon as we know it; however I cannot figure out how anyone gets 5 generations between Ben and Kol. At most I can only get 3 and that's assuming no one waits longer than mid twenties before having a child. And here they are…Ben and Jysella, have a son, Jak. Jak has a son Bolton who is Kol's father. Of course, Jak and Bolton are OC's, since these characters are not known. Ben is 85 years old in this and Kol is 20. I will admit that I haven't read any of the Legacy comics but I love the speculation, so if I seem to get something not quite right just consider it AU.

Second, this was written for the Over 30 SW Writers Club Challenge from the TF . net boards.  
The challenge:  
_Write a story about a SW character, reflecting back on their life experiences that have made them who they are today. Choose a character who perhaps wouldn't be your first choice. Stretch yourself. Delve into their most inner thoughts, fears, desires, goals, etc. Make it sad or happy or funny or all...that's your choice too. Most of all...have fun with this as a writer._

Thirdly, the story will be posted an at least two parts maybe three.

_**What Counts in the End**_

**Part I**

Coruscant Temple, 111 ABY

Ben Skywalker was dieing. The Jedi were extremely saddened by the thought of losing their Grand Master, but they knew that they had fine leadership in Ben's grandson Bolton. And if they trusted the sensations in the Force, they'd need it. Many Jedi were remembering the great Master who would leave a tremendous legacy.

Ben scoffed at that as he lay on his simple bed. He coughed again and after regaining his breath he closed his eyes and thought about what his legacy would be. He was born of legacy, the son to one of the greatest Jedi who had ever lived and the grandson of the Jedi's Chosen One. But that wasn't what his legacy was; it had to be more than just being the son of someone.

He had once explained to his great-grandson Kol, when he was only a boy, what a legacy was. At the time he had told the ten year old, "A legacy is what we all leave behind. It is the story of our lives and how we want to be remembered when we are gone. It is how we affect the future and is what really counts in the end."

Ben thought about that and let his mind drift back over his life. He had lived a full life, although it was not always happy. There was times when it was down right tragic.

At age thirteen he began a journey that he didn't even realize until it was nearly too late. He was following his mentor, his Master, his beloved cousin down a road of destruction. He had done things that even today Ben didn't like to remember. It wasn't until he met up with a woman from his childhood that he began to see the error of his ways. It was ironic now that he thought of it, how at age eighteen he was turned by the love of a woman from the Dark path he was being led down. While Ben's own grandfather and his Master were seduced to the Dark Side because of love, Ben was saved by it.

It was during the last months of the Insurrection. The war Jacen had called the war to end all war. The war to fix what was broken to ensure that there would never be another. The Insurgents consisted of Corellia and its many allies which included the rising power of the Imperial Remnant under brilliant new Grand Admiral Jagged Fel. The Alliance was headed by Jacen's puppet Cha Niathal as Chief of State, while Jacen was her Supreme Commander, and the Jedi were torn. The Order believed in the Alliance and fought for the Alliance but the Order didn't believe in Jacen. Jacen had actually been loosely supported by the Council until he accused his own parents of treason and went after them. He then announced that he had embraced the Sith and had become a Master. This outraged many Jedi including Jaina. She along with several other Jedi, including Kyp Durron, Zekk, and Kyle Katarn defected to the Corellian cause, proclaiming the Jedi Order no longer protected the innocent and no longer lived up to the Code. To her Jacen was as dead as her parents and the Jedi Council as much a Sith puppet as the new Chief of State. Ben's father Luke was determined to prevent Jacen from gaining any more control, but was unwilling to sever his duty to the Alliance.

Ben remembered the end days with sadness; however, now he knew that the end of the war had truly been a beginning for him:

_Ben was also torn; he had known that not everything he had done was forthright. He knew he was becoming Dark and he knew Jacen was already there. It was during one of the final battles that Ben first saw her again since they had been children. They found themselves side by side fighting Imperial soldiers who were attacking Mon Calamari. It even seemed odd to him at times that the new proclaimed Sith Lord and the Jedi would be fighting on the same side in a war, but here they were. _

They defeated the last of the white clad troops and secured the governmental building. They were assessing the scene when she turned to him and said dryly with a raised brow, "So, war really does make for strange bedfellows, don't you think, Captain Skywalker?"

He stared at her, how she could find humor in so much conflict was beyond him. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked and took in the scene around them. Bodies were laying everywhere. Both sides had accrued great losses but the Alliance came out the victor. She was busy with the helmet of one of the Imperial soldiers, an officer.

She removed the helmet and then looked up at Ben, but no humor was found on the dirt streaked face or in the stunning green eyes. "I mean, look at us. You have all but become Sith. A Sith Lord is the Supreme Commander. The Sith have always been the sworn enemy of the Jedi and yet here we are fighting on the same side in a war that no one remembers why it was began."

Ben was somewhat taken aback by her words and the gentle way she wiped at the colonel's face then he remembered, Jysella Horn had first been apprenticed to Cilghal to be a healer. That was until it was determined Jedi commanders were needed more than healers. "I'm Jedi Knight Jysella Horn. I want to help you."

The man, who looked to be in his late twenties with dark short blond hair and blue eyes, coughed and after drinking some of the water from the canteen Jysella held to his lips, said, "I'm Colonel Cem Fel."

She asked incredulously, "The Grand Admiral's brother?"

He nodded and coughed again, "Yes."

Ben knelt down beside Jysella and said emotionlessly, he had seen too much death and destruction to be moved by it any more, "We need to keep him alive. He'll make for a very nice bargaining chip."

Jysella snapped her head around to glare at Ben, "Is that all you see, Skywalker? Is this just a grand game of dejarik to you?" She gently laid Cem's head down and stood, Ben followed. "You should know better. This war has been fought for nearly five years. Entire families have been ripped apart because of it. I'm Corellian, Ben. I've killed people I knew as a kid growing up on Corellia. I'm fighting my best friend's family. I've nearly killed my best friend, Myri Antilles and her sister more times than I want to count." Ben was shocked at her calmness. Her words spoke volumes of her feelings but she never raised her voice. Jysella was most dangerous when she was calm.

Ben inhaled deeply; he was finding her infuriating to say the least. Finally, after she moved on to another soldier, an Alliance trooper this time, he let the breath out and said very quietly, "I do know better but I know what is important. And sometimes what we want and what is important are two entirely different things. I watched my Master kill the only woman he ever loved because she was a traitor. I watched as he chased down his own parents, my only aunt and uncle, because they were traitors." She turned back to him and Ben thought he saw disgust and horror engraved there possibly because of his matter-of-fact tone. "I fought with my parents over this. And my cousin Jaina is fighting beside Jagged Fel for the Empire." He stepped closer to her and finished by saying, "Yes, I know the types of sacrifice that has been made. I know the cost of peace."

Looking at the soldier once more she closed the young girl's eyes with her hand and said in a Force filled command, "Sleep." Then she added, resigned, "There's nothing more I can do for you." She wiped her hands on her jumpsuit and stood, gazing at him she said in a tone that said she had enough, "But that's just it, we aren't at peace. Are we?" She pointed to the trooper, "Look at her, Ben. Tell me what you see."

He looked at the pretty young girl and said, "I see a loyal soldier who died with honor serving the Galactic Alliance."

She shook her head, stepped as close to him as she could and stared him in the eye. Her green eyes flashed almost dangerously, but in a voice not much more than a whisper she said, "I see a girl who is not more than eighteen who will never know love, who will never know what being a mother is like, who will never grow old surrounded by her grandchildren. I see a senseless loss that needs to stop." She then pushed past him to attend to others who were still alive or helping ease the pain by using the Force like she had on the girl. Ben watched her as she commanded the troops who were milling around. Jysella Horn the Jedi Commander became Jedi Healer almost within a heartbeat.

Jysella's words still chilled him to the core as he remembered them. But that was not all, she had truly irritated him in a way no one ever did. She had a way of getting under his skin and touching nerves he no longer knew that he possessed. However, despite her uncanny way of making him think about what really was going on over the next several weeks on Mon Cal, Ben realized he was oddly attracted to her and truly admired her for her spunk. She never was one for the finer things that went with being female and during a war there was no time for such feminine niceties anyway. He recalled her messy long black braid and her often dirt streaked face with a smile, because even then, even as she was driving him crazy with her compassion for the enemy and her deadly calm retorts, he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met.

The war dragged on for several more months. Jacen tried to put more pressure on Luke Skywalker and the Jedi Council to continue fighting as more and more systems pledged support to the Empire. However, the Council decided it was time to do something. Luke made the decision to confront the Sith Lord that had once been his nephew, who had once been his Apprentice. The Jedi determined that the Insurrectionists weren't the real threat to the Alliance, it was the Sith who was in control of the Alliance. It was time to get rid of the Sith who had been tolerated far too long, either by redeeming him or by killing him. Luke and Mara set out to do just that.

Ben couldn't recall much of those final days except that he and Jysella were deployed on the Outer Rim to Jabiim. They had learned to tolerate each other and although, she still touched on every sensitive nerve he had, Ben knew he was falling for her even if he didn't seem to like her much. He knew it was dangerous, he needed to stay sharp and she was truly a distraction in more than one way that he really didn't need. She had a way of getting him to think about what was actually going on and he didn't like it.

However, it wasn't until it hit home that Ben finally realized what truly was at stake. Ben would never forget the moment he felt his father's death and his mother being injured. What had really surprised Ben wasn't that he felt it but that he cared so much. Jacen had killed the Grand Master and critically wounded Mara. Then he proclaimed the Jedi solely under his control and any who didn't bow to him were considered enemies of the Alliance. Of course, the entire Order rebelled. Ben and Jysella found themselves on opposing sides for real and when she refused to comply with the order given by Jacen, Ben had no choice but to arrest her.

_"So is this really what you want to do?" She glared at him in that way that forced him to really look at himself. He had never known anyone who could do that before her. _

"Jys, it's what I have to do. Jacen is my Master," even to his own ears he heard the silent plea. He wished that he didn't have to do it.

She paused a moment before saying in that all too quiet way, "Then you really are lost. And we are fighting for nothing because there will never be peace as long as the Sith are in control."

Ben retorted as much because he was afraid she was right as in that he didn't believe her, "The Sith is just another form of using the Unifying Force. Jacen doesn't do what he does for ambition, he does it for the good of the Galaxy. He does it to have a peaceful future."

"Are you really certain of that? Do you really believe Jacen is doing this because he doesn't what power? Ben, haven't you learned anything about history? The Sith have never done anything for the good of the galaxy, they only want power." She looked away for a moment and he thought she was finished but then she turned and looked at him with such an intense look it really gave him pause. "Sure, Jacen may have began his decent believing that what he was doing was to ensure peace, but somewhere the Darkness that filled him made him power hungry. He likes it and he won't give it up. In that way there never will be peace."

Ben froze; her words seemed to hit him as if she had punched him. He gazed at her and finally after a moment he whispered, "Do you really believe that? Is this war really for nothing? Did my Dad die for nothing?"

Jysella swallowed, "If you do this, Ben, if you go back to Jacen, then yes, your father died for nothing."

Ben stared at her in profound confusion. He didn't want to turn her in. He was falling in love with her. Was she right; was Jacen as power hungry as their grandfather had been, as Palpatine had been? Was his life to be filled with painful decisions? According to Jacen it was—sacrifices for the greater good. However, was turning Jysella in really for the greater good, was his father's death really for the greater good, was his aunt and uncle's deaths really for the greater good? Ben was sick of hearing that, how could any of this be for the greater good—for peace? More and more systems were joining the Empire _because they didn't want to be subjected to Jacen's form of peace keeping. To Ben it seemed that the more force was used against governments, against people, the more they dissent. Maybe Jaina was right, the Alliance had become the empire and the Empire the alliance, the rebels. The Jedi were as divided as anyone over Jacen and his version of being Sith. But foremost in Ben's mind was the question: Why did he have to give up everything to ensure the greater_ good? _He wanted happiness, he wanted love, he wanted Jysella and if that was selfish then so be it. _

He slowly shook his head and lowered his saber with a trembling hand. He moved closer to her and she defiantly glared back at him. Closer and closer he came to her until he could feel her warm rapid breaths on his lips as she looked up at him. His heart raced and he really had no idea what he was doing, but in that moment he let his instincts take over, he let his desire take over and he captured her lips in a kiss that seared him to his soul.

She responded at first giving as much as she got until she realized what she was doing, or rather who she had been doing it to. She broke the kiss and then proceeded to slap him as hard as she could across the face.

Ben chuckled despite the emotional pain the memory brought to him. She definitely had a way of knocking sense into him. He didn't turn her over to his Master; in fact, he decided Jacen was no longer going to control him. He and Jysella left Jabiim and went back to Coruscant where Ben planned on confronting the Sith Lord.

Jysella tried to convince him to appear before the Jedi Council to plead support, or at least let her accompany him, but he refused, saying it had to be this way. He had to face Jacen alone.

He would never forget the look in her eyes as he prepared to leave the Jedi landing strip to go to the Central Command Headquarters.

_He stopped and met her intense watery green gaze before turning to the speeder that would take him to Jacen. For a moment Jysella let her shields down, not much but enough for him to peer into her soul, her heart. He was stunned at the emotion he found there. _

She swallowed and stepped up to him and reached up to lay her hand on his stubbly cheek. Ben would never forget her words as she whispered, "Come back to me, okay?" Then she leaned up and kissed him. It was a kiss so full of love and hope that it had felt like a cool rain on a parched Tatooine day.

Ben forced a slight smile after they broke the kiss, "What no slap?"

She smiled back and he was shocked to see the tears she was fighting, "Come back and we'll talk about it."

Ben swallowed and grinned as he stroked her cheek, "Is that a promise?"

She nodded, "It is."

"Then I'll be back."

Neither of them had to say what it was that they would talk about. They both knew the instant she had let down her shields.  
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	2. Chapter 2

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**Part II **

Ben remembered going to the Command Headquarters, which were in the Senate Building, where he confronted his cousin. Ben had known at the time that confronting Jacen was probably a suicide mission. His own father and mother couldn't take him on, what made him think he could do it alone. Ben still believed that he only survived because the Force had willed it. Because that was how things were meant to be.

He shifted and rolled to his side to look out the transparasteel window that looked out over the congested sky lanes of Coruscant. He took a deep breath that really wasn't that deep and coughed again. Yes, the end was near, he could feel it.

He then let his mind drift back to the battle that would define who he would become as much as the woman who loved him for nearly 65 years.

_Ben moved warily through the __Senate_ _Building__ as he headed to the __Command_ _Center__. He never let his eyes wonder or his thoughts. He was all stern determination. He refused to let his doubts cloud his mind as he came off the lift at the top floor where Jacen's office was. Ben saw the Mon Calamari Chief of State leave the Commander's office and Ben thought she looked ragged, drawn. She never noticed him; she was too engrossed in her own thoughts, worries. _So, she's learning that she isn't really the one in control_, Ben thought. That's a hard lesson to learn. _

_He waited until she was safely in her office at the other end of the corridor before he moved toward Jacen's. He knew that the Sith Lord knew that he was coming. He had probably known the moment he and Jysella abandoned their mission to regain control of Jabiim. _

_Ben took a deep calming breath and closed his eyes, pulling the Force, the Light Side, around him. He felt Jysella's love and encouragement and he felt the same from his mother. He took those feelings and wrapped them around his heart, strengthening his resolve. As he opened his eyes, he thought, _Dad, if you can hear me, know that I'm sorry. I love you.

_Feeling that he was as ready for this as he ever would be, he ignited his lightsaber, the snap-hiss echoing in the empty corridor; he then opened the door. He entered the office of his once beloved cousin, his mentor, his Master and he knew whatever the outcome, there would only be one of them leaving. _

_Jacen looked older than his thirty-six years. His hair was peppered with grey and his face had lines around his cold orange-brown eyes that weren't there before, that shouldn't be there considering his age. The Sith Lord looked upon Ben with no emotion at all as he said, "Back so soon from the Outer Rim? I don't remember authorizing a discontinuation of your mission, Captain Skywalker." _

_Ben swallowed all of his sudden fear and the feeling of being intimidated by Jacen. He was done with being intimidated by him. "I decided that Jabiim wasn't a real threat, Admiral." He could play the game too. They both knew why he was standing there. "I decided there was a more pressing threat to the security of the __Alliance__ right here." Ben fixed Jacen with a glare and raised his saber, the blue blade a blazing beacon. "And I'm here to take care of it." _

_Jacen chuckled as he sat back in his massive chair, a chair he had claimed he didn't want at one time, "Oh, my Apprentice, you are mistaken. I can not be easily removed. Your parents discovered that the hard way." _

_Ben didn't take the bait, and instead said deadpan, "My father had a tendency to be too trusting. It served him well when he redeemed our grandfather. But you are beyond redemption, I think. I've been taught not to really trust anyone but myself." _

_Jacen slowly uncoiled, he stood to his full height and Ben was glad that he was as tall as his cousin, maybe even a tad bit taller. Jacen then moved from around the desk and pulled his own saber. Its red blade a startling contrast to Ben's blue. Ben moved with Jacen as he circled him, in a tone more suited to a friendly conversation than a fight to the death, he inquired, "So, you tire of the green blade?" _

_Jacen shrugged and grinned lopsidedly, but it held none of the quiet levity, that Solo charm, that it used to. "Lumiya thought it was a time for a change." _

_Ben nearly forgot about her. As he moved his blade in a defensive pattern trying to determine Jacen's first strike, he asked, "So, what is the grandmaster of the Sith up to these days?" _

_Jacen chuckled, but it held no mirth, "She is away finding a new home. Since you failed to save her asteroid from the Insurrectionists." _

_Jacen then took the opportunity to lunge; his blade came against Ben's in a clean parry. Ben twisted away from him and caught another strike. Ben grinned, "You know, I was wondering about that, Cousin." Not _Master_, never Master again. "I was under the impression that to become a Sith Master the Apprentice had to kill the Master. Isn't that how the Rule of Two works?" _

_This time Ben took the advantage his jibe caused and lunged, Jacen easily deflected it in a chorus of sparks and hisses. Then he said, "That was how it was done, yes. I've decided that is a waste of resources. Lumiya hasn't denied my Mastery and I may still have a use for her. However, I believe I will need to find a new Apprentice. She was gravely incorrect when she thought the other grandson of Anakin Skywalker would prove to be an asset. You are too much like your father. You greatly disappoint me Ben." He raised his eyebrow and added, "And now I will destroy you as I did your sire. Funny don't you think? I killed my first Master and now I will kill my first Apprentice." _

_Ben parried another attack and twisted away from him. "I wish I was sorry for your disappointment, Jace, but oddly, I'm not." He struck again, this time Jacen's parry seemed not as smooth, controlled. Ben's confidence and determination was affecting Jacen. "And I wouldn't be so sure about who will be killing who." Ben allowed a smile and lunged again, Jacen parried and spun away. _

_There was no more talk after that. As both of them became more and more absorbed in the Force—Ben in the Light, finding calmness as he released his anger and fear, Jacen in the Dark, using his anger and fear to make him stronger—they found themselves locked in a battle that would determine the fate of the galaxy. _

_Ben knew that Jacen would try to use Force lightning and was ready for it when it happened. He deflected it back to him and pushed Jacen into a corner. Jacen retaliated by pulling a light fixture from the wall and hurtling it at Ben. He ducked and countered the object with his own Force shove, sending it to the floor in a loud crash. _

_Jacen tried something else, a chair this time but Ben's lightsaber made kindling of it. The office soon became a vortex of flying objects and Force lightning but Ben found the strength and the insight needed to counter it all. He could feel the frustration rising in Jacen_Good_, Ben thought, _that will be his downfall

_"You are nothing!" Jacen bellowed as he hurtled a shelving unit at Ben. Ben simply leapt up and onto the massive desk, the unit falling in a crumpled heap on the floor. "You cannot defeat me." _

_Ben didn't say a word; he just lunged knowing he needed to end this. Ben didn't quite know what to think as his saber found purchase in the Sith Lord's chest. It wasn't until Jacen met his gaze and he saw the stunned expression that Ben realized he had indeed brought and end to the fight. The wound should have been fatal. _

_Ben's only response was to deactivate his blade to allow Jacen to fall onto the carpeted floor, clutching his chest and a look of utter cold-hearted hatred in his now orange eyes. Ben knew he wasn't dead as he left him, but he also knew he couldn't live long. Ben's saber had burned through Jacen's lung and maybe even touched his heart. No one could survive that. So, he left him to die and walked out of the office. _

_A crowd had formed outside the office, no doubt due to the sounds that had emanated from it. Ben thought he saw a woman that he should have recognized in the back of crowd who was pushing her way forward, but he didn't concern himself with figuring out who it was. She was just another blurred face of many in the mass. Senate Security along with the CSF rushed off the turbolift as he was about to embark. However, none of them stopped him. They instead rushed toward the Admiral's grand office. _

_All that mattered at that moment to him was getting back to the __Temple__ to see Jysella—and his mother. He needed to fix his relationship with her before he tried to fix the galaxy the way it needed to be fixed—the correct way, the Jedi way. _

Ben signed as he remembered the ride back to the Temple from the Senate Building. He had reached out and tried to touch Jacen but felt nothing; although, that didn't really reassure him. He had then wondered, as he still did today nearly seventy years later, if he should have made sure he was dead before leaving him. They never did find his body and the HNE assumed that he had "become one with the Force" just as Luke Skywalker had done; but Ben, as well as the rest of the Jedi, knew that wasn't possible. Sith didn't become one with the Force in the calm way a Jedi did, by simply fading from existence. A Sith, especially a powerful one as Jacen had been, would have exploded in a torrent of Dark energy that would have take out half of his office wall and ceiling.

Ben swallowed and got his memories back on track to where he had left them. He wryly thought, _My mind's beginning to wonder, I must be getting old._

He then looked out the window again but he didn't see the congested afternoon traffic, instead he was landing his air speeder on the same landing pad he had lifted up from two hours before his confrontation with Jacen.

_As he popped the hatch to exit, his eyes fell upon her. She was wearing her usual dark jumpsuit, her black hair pulled in a messy, no fuss braid, and her green eyes burned as they met his. He thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Jysella never cried, in fact, Ben had never seen her actually shed tears even when she looked as if she would during the war and in the years after that day he had only seen her cry a sparse handful of times. However, as Jysella Horn threw herself at Ben, she let the dam break and cried her tears of relief, of fear, of pain and sorrow, while Ben held her so tight she could barely breathe. _

_He stroked her hair as she buried her face into his neck. He whispered into her ear the words that really didn't need spoken but somehow by doing so made them seem more real. _

_"Jysella, I love you." _

_She turned her head to look up at him, and he used his thumb to wipe away her tears. She smiled the most beautiful smile and opened herself completely to him. He felt her love, her fear, her hope and her dreams. In that timeless moment nothing else existed and Ben let his senses open to her. He wrapped himself around her as much as she was him. In that moment, they bonded and become one presence in the Force. _

_Ben didn't even notice the presences that were appearing on the landing pad, all that existed was her. _

_"I love you too, Ben," she whispered for the same reason he had. Then their lips came together in a kiss that was full of passion, hope and undeniable love. _

_As they came apart, Ben heard a deep masculine voice say, "Skywalker, I can't believe you just pulled that off and lived to tell about it." _

_Jysella turned within Ben's arms to stand beside him, but she didn't move away. "Hello, Dad." _

_Ben would never forget the look in Corran Horn's green eyes as he stared at Ben. However, Ben neither saw nor felt any resentment toward him from the older man. The only thing he really felt was admiration and a wry amusement. Even so, Ben still was trying to puzzle out the Jedi Master's meaning. Was he surprised that Ben survived Jacen, or was it more personal, surprise that Ben would kiss his daughter in front of him. Ben finally swallowed and said, "Master Horn." _

_Ben, though, never had the chance to ask because his mother moved from behind Corran to stand before Ben. Jysella graciously untangled her arms from around his waist and he embraced a tearful Mara. He sniffed at the emotion he felt and whispered into her still stunningly red hair, "I'm so sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry." _

_She pulled away and wiped the tears away with the back of her hands. Finally, getting control of her emotions and taking a deep breath, she looked back at him and smiled. "Ben, all that matters is that you're home where you belong. Your father would have been proud of you. I'm proud of you." _

_Ben hadn't cried since he was thirteen but in that moment he let his own floodgates open and the tears flowed. They were the bitter tears of regret and loss, but they were also the tears of joy and of hopefulness. Ben had never felt such a feeling of relief and release. He was truly happy. _

Six months later Jedi Healer Jysella Horn and Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker were married in a simple ceremony co-officiated by his mother and her father. They were surrounded by their friends and their remaining family. Ben still today thought back on who had been missing from the well wishers—his father, her mother, who had been killed by Imperialists while working the old information circuit, his aunt and uncle, and his cousin Jaina.

He sighed and thought about her. Jaina had married the newly proclaimed Emperor Jagged Fel only three months before Ben's wedding and immediately after the peace accord had been signed. It was announced that the Jedi who had defected to the Empire would no longer be known as Jedi, they were now the Imperial Knights. Under the tutelage of Masters Kyp Durron, Kyle Katarn, Zekk and the Empress the order would grow into an almost mirror image of the Jedi Order. Ben never again saw his cousin in person. He never had the chance to tell Jaina that he was sorry. He often wished he had.

Ben shifted again on his bed. He couldn't lay too long on one side. His chest was beginning to hurt. He rolled back over and he coughed. After regaining his breath, he closed his eyes again and remembered Jysella on their wedding day.

Jysella had been beautiful dressed in a simple white robe, her hair left loose and adored with white Hapan violets. She looked like a goddess with the striking contrast between the black of her hair and the white of her dress. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. They said their simple vows of marriage in the ancient Jedi Union rite that made her Jysella Horn Skywalker.

Nine months later and only seventeen days after his twentieth lifeday, Jysella gave birth to their first of three children, their son Jak.

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Thanks for reading...


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks so much for the reviews... :-)

Here is the final part to this story...However it may not be the end...I am seriously considering writing two other companion pieces to this...One about Jaina and the other about Jacen and how he became Darth Krayt. So, keep an eye out for them sometime in the future...

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**Part III **

Kol Skywalker ran his hand through his tussled red-gold hair as he stepped into the darkened room of his great-grandfather. He looked at the frail form lying on the large metal bed and thought Ben looked so small as he slept in the center, with the blankets tucked under his chin, so old. And yet, that wasn't the impression the youngest member of the Skywalker clan derived from the Force. Ben Skywalker was anything but frail in spirit. He was a burning beacon of Light.

Kol swallowed and moved into the room. He hated Coruscant and spent most of his time on Ossus with his fiancée, a non-Jedi instructor by the name of Maila Wasser. However, when his great aunt Jalyn informed him about his grandfather's condition turning for the worse, he came back as soon as possible. After adjusting the dimming control on the window to shut out more of the artificial night light that he so despised, he sat in the chair by the bed.

As he looked at Ben he thought about what the man meant to him. He had never known his grandfather, Jak Skywalker. He had been killed on a mission thirty years ago, ten years before Kol had been born. So, Ben was more than just a distant patriarch of his family, he was Kol's Granddad, his hero. Kol had looked up to Ben and had always felt a deep love for him. And Ben returned the emotion for his only great-grandson. Ben had always found time for the sometimes stubborn red-headed boy. He always had time for his silly questions and his precociousness. Kol would greatly miss the great man that was Ben Skywalker.

Then he thought of something that he had asked Ben over ten years ago, _Granddad, what is a legacy?_ It had been just another question but it was the only question that Kol could remember Ben's exact answer to, _Kol, a legacy is what we all leave behind. It is the story of our lives and how we want to be remembered when we are gone. It is how we affect the future and is what really counts in the end. _

Kol thought about what Ben Skywalker's legacy would be and wondered if his own would ever measure up. Ben had done what not many others could. He defeated a Sith Lord while technically was still an Apprentice. At age twenty-two he not only became a father for the second time when his first of two daughters were born, but also became a Master and was appointed to the Council. By age thirty he was named the Grand Master when Kol's great-great-grandmother stepped down from the post. Ben affected the lives of billions as his time as Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. He never was afraid to be seen or heard, and more than one politician was put in his or her place by Master Skywalker's no nonsense wit. It had been said that his sense of humor was as sharp as his blade, maybe sharper.

Ben had helped bring a lasting peace to the galaxy in a way his cousin never could have. Although, relations between the Empire and the Galactic Alliance were never less than stressed, they never became open hostilities. The Fel's were actually doing their part for the Galaxy and people seemed tolerant, if they weren't always happy. Kol knew that Ben regretted never seeing his cousin Jaina Fel again. She died about fifteen years ago, not long after her husband, the Emperor.

_Odd_, Kol thought, _Granddad is doing the same thing. He just can't go on without Grandmother._ Jysella Horn Skywalker had only died eight months ago and her passing left a huge, gapping hole in Ben's heart. Ben missed her pointed barbs of common sense that she never seemed to be out of. She grounded Ben, everyone could see that, and now that she was gone, Ben was lost. She had truly been his soul mate. Kol swallowed again as he thought of Maila and he hoped they had the same type of relationship as his great-grandparents shared. He hoped that Maila and he were as much in love as Ben and Jysella were when they were married for 65 years.

But Kol knew that they didn't always have a blissful life. They both gave so much to the Galaxy that it almost seemed unfair that they had to continue to feel loss. The first tragedy happened when their youngest daughter was killed when she was fourteen in a fluke accident that never should have happened. During a lightsaber sparring match with her elder sister Jalyn, Myra's lightsaber malfunctioned and didn't catch the strike. Jalyn's blade didn't stop until it had nearly severed the slender girl through the middle. Jalyn never quiet got over that and decided not to become a Jedi. She lived her life dedicated to teaching non-Force based educational subjects such as history, reading and language at the academy and she never married. She never picked her lightsaber up again, a painful decision Ben and Jysella eventually accepted.

The second tragedy came in the form of Jak's death on Dantooine when he and two other Jedi, including their Apprentices, were ambushed while mediating a dispute between the two hostile political factions who were trying to gain power. One of the parties of the still struggling planet, which had suffered greatly during the Yuuzhan War, blamed the Alliance for it's broken economy. They wanted to break from the Alliance and join the Empire. Jag Fel had been implementing programs that seemed to help the once devastated wastelands that beings were still struggling to live on over fifty years after the end of the Vong War. It also didn't help internal relations that Dantooine had an extremely volatile mix of species that normally would not have been found together.

Kol's father, Bolton had only been ten at the time and had been one of the Apprentices on the mission. Although, he had not been Jak's Apprentice, he had witnessed his father's death while the young Master saved the others. It had become the factor that defined the type of person Bolton would become—strong, brave and dedicated to the Jedi Order and the Alliance. He was determined that his father's death hadn't been in vain even though Dantooine eventually sided with the Empire.

Ben stirred and brought the young man out of his reverie. As he turned his attention to the old man lying there, Ben opened his bright blue eyes and met Kol's green. Ben had always said that Kol was a merging of the Skywalker/Horn genes that somehow bypassed two other generations. All of Ben's children had inherited their mother's black or at least dark hair, Bolton inherited his mother's blond, but Kol had Ben's red hair and Jysella's green eyes. He had Ben's height and his breadth of chest and shoulders came from Jysella's side, particularly from the mountain of a man that had been her grandfather Booster Terrik.

Ben smiled and said with a slight smirk, "So, what brings you all the way to this dreaded planet that you hate so much?"

Kol smiled back and said, "Oh, I just thought it was time to come and visit. You know, I'm getting married in three months and Maila is driving me crazy."

Ben chuckled, "Come now, Kol. I may be old but I still remember being young," there was actually a mischievousness in his eyes that painfully reminded Kol of the younger Ben. "And I know nothing could have pulled me away from your grandmother." Then he lost all of the easy levity and said, "You came to watch an old man die."

Kol swallowed, "Granddad, that's not true."

Ben pinned him with a look that said _I'm not buying it_ but he didn't comment further. Instead, he asked, "How is your bride to be?"

Kol smiled, just thinking about the beautiful blond-haired, green-eyed teacher made his heart skip a beat. _Yeah, Granddad, your right, if you weren't dieing I wouldn't be here_. Finally, he said, "She just started a new session. She loves teaching the basics of reading to the youngest Padawans. It amazes me how she can get them to learn like she does."

Ben nodded and then a violent cough raked his body. Kol jumped up and grabbed a glass of water from the bedside table. Helping to hold Ben's head off the pillow, Kol held the glass to his lips with his other hand. Ben took a small sip and then lay back down. After Kol was settled on the chair again Ben said, "Kol, I fear that I have failed."

Kol was actually stunned by the words, "Granddad? You have never failed in anything that you've ever done."

Ben looked away and his eyes took on a far away expression. After a moment he said quietly, "I should have made sure that he was dead before leaving him."

Kol stared dumbfounded at his hero for several seconds before saying, "Who?"

Ben turned and gazed at Kol, "Do you remember me telling you what a legacy is?"

Kol nodded, he had no idea where this was going, but he was truly interested.

"Well, I fear my greatest legacy will be my greatest failure."

Kol violently shook his head, "Granddad, that's preposterous. You have done more for the Alliance, for the Galaxy than any Jedi ever."

But Ben was all quiet determination as he said, "No, Kol, I fear that all that will be erased by what I failed to do 65 years ago. I never made sure my cousin Jacen was dead. I fear that he has survived. I feel the tremors in the Force, Kol. There is an evil out there and I fear it is Jacen."

Kol still wasn't buying it. "Granddad, your cousin would be even older than you. Even if he did survive your duel, he couldn't be alive today. He'd by over a hundred years old."

"Kol," Ben locked the younger man's eyes and in a tone that held no room for argument he said, "never underestimate the power of the Dark Side. It is not more powerful then the Light but it can bend reality and Jacen was a master at bending reality. I fear Jacen is still alive and is waiting for a time when it will be most opportune for him to come out of whatever hellhole he has been hiding in."

Kol swallowed, hard. There was something in his mentor's words that touched a deep cord in the young Jedi. "Granddad, what if by some slim chance you are correct, what will we do?"

Ben actually picked his head off the pillow to stare at Kol, "You must defeat him, Kol, and if not you then your heirs. Only then will there be lasting peace. Only then will our legacy as the children of the Chosen One be fulfilled. Only then will we really know what counts in the end."

Ben laid his head back down and he stared at the ceiling. Eventually, he said his voice weak, "I'm not going to last too much longer, Kol. I miss your grandmother, my kids and my parents. I know I'll never see them again but knowing that I'll be part of the Force with them is comforting. I'll always watch out for you, Kol, as with your aunt and father. Always know that I'm proud of you and that I love you."

Kol suddenly felt the sting of tears, he swallowed hard again trying to get his emotions under control. Finally, he whispered hoarsely, "I love you too, Granddad. And I miss Grandmother too as I'll miss you."

However, Kol doubted Ben ever heard the last words. Kol felt the shift in the Force as he felt his grandfather's presence slip into it. Like a gust of wind that would blow out a candle, Ben Skywalker became one with the Force that he served so well for his entire life.

Kol heard the door open and heard the quiet sobs of his great-aunt and the sniff of his father, but Kol never looked up at them. He watched as his hero vanished from sight and he wondered when his life came to an end if he would leave as great a legacy as his great-grandfather. Kol hadn't argued with Ben over it, but Kol knew Ben Skywalker had done more that really mattered then any other man he ever met.

FIN

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Thanks so much for reading. I hope that you all enjoyed it.

All reviews are welcome...


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